School WallPost

User Mark Holland

Posted 27 October 2015 17:00

West Road Primary Classes 10, 11, 12 In this term, all three classes have studied iJam Level 1 – My Song. Working in groups of 2-3 pupils have created their own song in a genre of their choice using the App GarageBand. In the first session pupils were introduced to important key words in music such as beats, bars, tempo, chords, instrumentation and song structure. Each week pupils progressed on to another section of their song starting with the introduction and building the instrumentation up throughout. In addition to learning how to play different instruments on the iPad pupils also had to become a music producer and mix their songs, add effects and edit parts out that they thought didnâ€™t work well in their song. As in previous terms at West Road the childrenâ€™s behaviour has been outstanding in all three classes. Pupils have been eager to learn new skills and make improvements to their songs as well as helping other groups if they were struggling. Some pupils really excelled with their listening skills and could make clear decisions when editing their songs to make it sound much better than it originally was. Overall I am happy with the work that has been produced this term. Pupils have developed their musical knowledge and have learnt key music production skills enabling them to create a song. A few pupils have even learnt a major pentatonic scale on the guitar so that they could play a solo in their song. Next term class 10 will be studying iDesign Level 1 and class 11 and 12 will be studying iDesign Level 3.? The media uploads are available as of 23/10/2015

User Mark Holland

Posted 18 December 2015 19:11

West Road Primary Classes 10, 11, 12 This term Class 10 have taken part in the iDesign Level 1 workshop which focuses on four different photography projects including a landscape wall art photo, magazine advert, magazine front cover and a comic book. Class 11 and 12 have taken part in the iDesign Level 3 workshop which involves creating a multitude content for web-based purposes such as following a design brief to create an advertising campaign for a company. This involved making a logo, social media banners and a simple internet game. All three classes showed great creativity using different photo editing apps on the iPads to enhance their original pictures. Overall the behaviour this term has been excellent with the majority of pupils being excited to finish their photography projects. Some pupils in Class 12 also informed me that they had downloaded the app Sketch Nation at home to allow them to continue with their work. It was evident in their final game projects that much more time had been spent on character creation and other aspects of their game such as enemies and power-ups. I am very happy with the work that all three classes have created this term. Pupils in Class 10 have gained a good understanding of photo taking and editing techniques as well as learning about correct photo placement for adverts and magazines. Pupils in Class 11 and 12 have developed their skills even further and now have a good understanding of design for web, how to follow a design brief, analysis of their own and others work. Next term Class 10 will be studying iProgram Level 1 and Class 11 and 12 will study iProgram Level 3. The media uploads are available as of 18/12/2015

User Mike Holland

Posted 25 January 2016 16:42

West Road Primary School iDesign L1- Years 3, 3/4 and 4 In the past term at West Road Primary School the pupils were taught about different aspects of photography from framing to editing a photograph. Pupils were then challenged with four projects to complete which included landscape wall art, an advertisement poster, magazine front cover and a comic strip. The Pupils worked in pairs to complete their projects which they stayed in for the remainder of the term. All of the pupils had previous experience on iPads in past terms of iMedia so they understood how to use them. The iDesign apps were new to the pupils which they very quickly learned how to use proficiently. The behaviour of all the pupils was really good all term and this showed in their willingness to learn new skills as well as develop the skills that they already had. Experimentation is a big part of the iDesign course and pupils really excelled at being creative within their assigned projects. I feel that the past term at West Road Primary School has been very successful with all of the pupils gaining photography and design skills and their enthusiasm and enjoyment of the course came across through the work which they produced.

User Mark Holland

Posted 05 February 2016 16:37

Class 7, 9 and 11 This term classes 7 and 9 have taken part in the iProgram level 1 workshop where as class 11 have taken part in the iProgram level 3 workshop. iProgram level 1 focuses on a programming format called Blockley that utilises drag and drop for easy use. It also aims to teach pupils about different aspects of programming such as algorithms, loops, variables and conditionals. In the final session pupils made a modern version of the game Etch-A-Sketch using the tilt function on the iPad to replicate the two dials on the original Etch-A-Sketch. iProgram level 3 looks into real world programming and de-bugging complex programming problems. Pupils were tasked with fixing five different broken Hopscotch projects to see what they could remember from iProgram level 1 and 2. Once the five tasks were completed pupils all made a working program for a piano/keyboard and eventually made their own games in the last session. The behaviour this term has been excellent and I have been especially impressed with the year 5’s in class 11 as they had not previously done any iProgram workshops before and have coped just as well as the year 6’s. I feel that this term has been successful with all three classes accomplishing much more than expected. Pupils in class 7 and 9 have learnt basic programming and can all make a simple iPad game using a variety of different rules and instructions. Pupils in class 11 have developed their skills even further to allow them to understand complicated algorithms as well as de-bug problems. The media uploads are available as of 5.2.2016

User Mike Holland

Posted 14 February 2016 18:39

West Road Primary School iProgram L1- Years 3/4 and 5 iProgram L3- Year 6 This term at West Road Primary School pupils worked through the iProgram course with years 3/4 and 5 doing L1 and year 6 doing L3. In L1 pupils were taught all about computer science, algorithms and programming. Instruction based games such as Tynker and Light Bot were used to help the pupils understand how to program algorithms to make a character move. Both classes really enjoyed using Hopscotch to create shapes, Spirograph patterns and shapes with a variable in the instructions. In the last lesson both classes used Hopscotch to create a modern version of an Etch-A-Sketch. The year 6 class worked through iProgram L3 which taught the pupils about debugging and finding problems and mistakes within code. The pupils were set a task to debug 5 projects, some managed to fix the problems but the majority struggled, this prompted hints to be put on the board. In putting the hints on the board more pupils were able to complete the tasks. In the final lesson pupils started to create an endless runner game in which they had to use their knowledge that they have gained from all of the previous iProgram levels as well as L3. I believe with more time to work on their games the majority of the class would have had a functioning game. The behaviour of all of the pupils at West Road Primary School is excellent both in and out of the classrooms. The skills gained were noticeable from week to week and quite a few pupils went home and downloaded the apps that were used this term on their iPads at home to further continue their learning. All of the pupils from all three of the years seemed to really enjoy iProgram, this was evident in their eagerness to learn and how much they remembered from week to week. I feel that the past term at West Road Primary School has been a success as all of the pupils have gained computer programming and problem solving skills.

User Mark Holland

Posted 28 March 2016 09:24

Class 7, 9 and 11 This term classes 7 and 9 have participated in iAnimate level 1. In the first session pupils were introduced to the different types of animation that can be created and focused on making a Stop Motion animation. Stop motion is the process of taking a picture of a static object and moving it a small amount then repeating the process. Each week pupils added more frames to their animations until the final week when they edited their work to have titles and music in it. Class 11 have been studying iAnimate level 2 which is much the same but with the use of Chroma Key commonly known as green screen. This enabled the pupils to choose a background for their work to make it appear more realistic. In addition to this some pupils have also used Sound FX instead of adding music like in level 1. As usual the behaviour has been excellent, although the lesson required a lot of moving around to set their animations up initially, pupils worked hard to complete their work. All three classes have produced some excellent work this past term and I feel that they have all gained a good understanding of creating their own animation with class 11 learning how to make a professional animation that includes Green Screen and Sound FX much like Wallace and Gromit. The media uploads are available as of 28.3.2016

User Mike Holland

Posted 31 March 2016 12:38

West Road Primary School iAnimate Level 1- Year 3/4 and Year 5 iAnimate Level 2- Year 6 This term at West Road Primary School pupils were taught all about animation. The year 3/4 and year 5 classes worked through iAnimate Level 1 which introduced both year groups to different types of animation and how each type of animation was created. The pupils were introduced to the app iStopMotion where all aspects of the app that the pupils would need to complete their work from starting a new project to saving their work correctly was covered fully over the course of the term. Both year groups were encouraged to be as creative as possible when creating their stop motion animations which resulted in some really good animations being produced. The majority of pupils in the year 5 class had a clear idea for an animation which followed a narrative they elaborated on each week. The year 5 class were also able to export their work into the app Pinnacle Pro where they added titles, effects and background music to their animations. The year 6 class worked through iAnimate Level 2 in which the pupils learned all about how a green screen could be used to add a background to their animations. Unfortunately, as this past term was shorter than usual the pupils ran out of time before they could add any sound fx to their work. All of the pupils did manage to get their animations into the app Green Screen where they effectively used the Chroma key to add an image onto their green screen background. All of the pupils at West Road Primary School showed a real enthusiasm for their set animation projects which was reflected not just in the work that was produced but also in the behaviour of the pupils. Each week the pupils improved upon their skills which was evident to see as their animations became smoother and more fluent throughout the duration of the term. I feel that the past term at West Road Primary School has been very successful with all of the pupils showing creativity and acquiring new skills in animation.

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About West Road Primary

At West Road we put children at the heart of everything we do. We believe that every child can achieve amazing things and it is our job to deliver a rich and personalised education, unlocking doors and creating a love of learning, so that every child is empowered and has the opportunity to choose their own future.

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West Road Primary School
West Road
Moorends
Doncaster
South Yorkshire
DN8 4LH